In light of the recent article in the ny times on breast cancer would you recommend surgery for a 90 year old woman recently diagnosed with dcis?

Maybe: It depends on the size of the area with DCIS and the patient's overall health. If the area of DCIS is large and palpable then I am worried that the area may erode into skin. If patient healthy enough then I would remove a palpable mass, even DCIS. If the patient is frail and the DCIS is small, I would do nothing because at that age she is more likely to die from something other than cancer

No, but give choice: The most extensive study of 100,000 pts with DCIS followed over 20 years, the risk of dying , about 3.3 percent was very low, between the group that had lumpectomies with or without radiation and the group that had mastectomies.That said, a young 90 year old,wishing 110 span(OK?), need to be given a choice,since aggressive DCIS upped risk to just 7.8% in 20 yrs,so some opt for no tx,but close ffup